King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

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The central theme in the majority of the above edicts is thewelfare of the Saṅgha. The opening lines of the Bhabru RockEdict refer to Aśoka’s reverence for the Buddha, Dhamma andSaṅgha: “King Piyadassī of Magadha expresses his respectfulgreetings to the Saṅgha and enquires after their health, wellbeingand general comfort. Sirs, the extent of my reverenceand devotion to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha is knownto you. Whatever, Sirs, has been declared by the Buddha, theExalted One, has been well declared. And, Sirs, what may bepointed out by me that the good Teaching shall endure for long,that I deserve to say.” 1 He next proceeds to prescribe seven disquisitionsof the Dhamma to be learned and retained in mindby monks and nuns and lay male and female disciples. 2The Minor Pillar Edicts of Sārnāth, Kosambī and Sañci aresimilar to one another as regards their contents. The unity ofthe Saṅgha and the punishment meted out to those who causedissension in the Saṅgha find mention in them. The SārnāthEdict, though a line or two are partially defaced, says: “InPāṭa(liputta)…. (It shall not be possible) for any one to dividethe Saṅgha. Whosoever monk or nun will divide the Saṅghashall be made to wear white garments and compelled to livein a non-monastic dwelling. Thus this command shall be communicatedto the Saṅgha of both monks and of nuns.” Next heinstructs as to where the edict should be posted and enjoinsthe Mahāmātras to enforce the rule of expelling the schismatics.The Kosambī Edict, though brief, in essence containsthe same injunction: “The Mahāmattas of Kosambī (are commanded)….(the Saṅgha) has been united…. is not to be foundamong the Saṅgha…. Whosoever monk or nun will divide theSaṅgha shall be made to wear white garments and compelledto live in a non-monastic dwelling.” The Sañci version goes one93
step further in describing the lasting effects of Aśoka’s unificationof the Saṅgha. He says: “The Saṅgha of monks andof nuns has been united to remain so to the time of my childrenand grandchildren and as long as the sun and the moonendure. Whosoever monk or nun will divide the Saṅgha shallbe made to wear white garments and compelled to live in anon-monastic dwelling. What is my intention? It is that theSaṅgha, united, shall endure for long.”In the Lumbinī Pillar Edict Aśoka refers to his visit, in thetwentieth year of his consecration, to the Buddha’s birthplacewhere he constructed a stone monument 3 and set up a pillarand exempted the village of taxes. In the Nigliva MinorPillar Edict reference is made to his having rebuilt, in hisfourteenth year after consecration, the stūpa to KonāgamanaBuddha, and of a second visit paid in the twentieth year whenhe set up a pillar there. He also undertook a pilgrimage to thesambodhi, “the place of enlightenment of the Buddha,” in thetenth year of his consecration.These and a fair proportion of Aśoka’s other edicts beartestimony to his direct connections with Buddhism. The edictsof Brahmagiri (No. 1), Rūpnāth and Maski refer to his havingbeen a lay disciple of the Buddha for over two and a half years;he had not made much progress for one whole year, and after hehas had closer associations with the Saṅgha for a period of overone year, i.e. out of the full period of two and a half years asan upāsaka, he began making great progress in the Dhamma. 4Aśoka’s words are quite clear with regard to the period he hadsaṃghaṃ upayīte, “gone to the Saṅgha (for guidance),” thoughthe edicts are often mistranslated as Aśoka having entered theSaṅgha either as a monk or as a bhikkhugatika, a close followerof the monks. In doing so, too much reliance has been placed94
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King Asoka and BuddhismHistorical &
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Buddhism / Indian History / Asian S
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ContentsThe Contributors ..........
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3. The Gathering of the Relics ....
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owing to the inability of certain s
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1Aśoka — The Great UpāsakaRICHA
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Buddhism which Aśoka announced in
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not only urges diligence on others,
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84,000 monasteries and as many stū
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e Aśoka, a layman, who tests monks
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eousness can hardly have been Buddh
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Notes1. P.H.L. Eggermont, The Chron
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2Aśoka and Buddhism as Reflectedin
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elation to Brahmanism. There was ce
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the correct doctrine. What is of si
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is the nearest that we get in the i
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days remains unclear unless the com
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since he showed them the way and th
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the importance of trade, the first
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accordance with dhamma was preferab
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in Kalinga, is interestingly omitte
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was largely absent. The phrase that
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That the larger corpus of edicts we
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3Emperor Aśoka and Buddhism:Unreso
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to punish them for their crimes, so
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Aśokan scholars since the 1830’s
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Page 58 and 59: The Mahāmātras stationed at Kauś
Page 60 and 61: The Sri Lankan Pali records, which
Page 62 and 63: problem. Nor would there be a diffi
Page 64 and 65: 17 th Gets concerned over indiscipl
Page 66 and 67: to gratify ambition and enrich the
Page 68 and 69: whose central theme is the conquest
Page 70 and 71: are altogether silent on a Kalinga
Page 72 and 73: All men are my children. Just as, i
Page 74 and 75: within his dominions. The frontier
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Page 78 and 79: edicts addressed to the Saṅgha; a
Page 80 and 81: evidence of Aśoka’s own lithic r
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Page 86 and 87: the other peoples dwelling about th
Page 88 and 89: earlier, the creation of the new ca
Page 90 and 91: five Greek kings among themselves a
Page 92 and 93: gratitude, amounting at times to sh
Page 94 and 95: e inconsistencies begin to make sen
Page 96 and 97: onistically with a brahmin exponent
Page 98 and 99: 3 rd ed. rev. (New Delhi: Governmen
Page 100 and 101: far been found, the latest being th
Page 102 and 103: made, it rendered subsequent steps
Page 104 and 105: its Culture, 2nd. ed. rev. (Colombo
Page 108 and 109: on a statement made by I-tsing 5 th
Page 110 and 111: confused accounts of the Sanskrit S
Page 112 and 113: the Vinaya. Some of them tended the
Page 114 and 115: In the foregoing data we have two i
Page 116 and 117: Aśoka cannot be expected to decide
Page 118 and 119: and while Aśoka who meted out such
Page 120 and 121: (2) Aliyavasāni (P. Ariyavaṃsān
Page 122 and 123: to it as sambuddhasamayaṃ, “the
Page 124 and 125: 5Aśoka and the Emergence of a Sinh
Page 126 and 127: 5. the Mahābodhivaṃsa (10 th or
Page 128 and 129: 3. The Mission to Sri Lanka: Brief
Page 130 and 131: was planted in the Mahāmegha Park
Page 132 and 133: disbelieve these events associated
Page 134 and 135: and he saw to it that his actions s
Page 136 and 137: at Kalinga, would have paid special
Page 138 and 139: missionaries to propagate the Buddh
Page 140 and 141: To the first question the answer is
Page 142 and 143: fore Mahinda Thera’s Buddhist mis
Page 144 and 145: and the countries they visited. 47
Page 146 and 147: order. 55 Their son Sumana was a me
Page 148 and 149: it to wither away. But Aśoka manag
Page 150 and 151: Notes1. G.P. Malalasekera, ed. Va
Page 152 and 153: ical and Social Studies, Vol. I, No
Page 154 and 155: 6Images of Aśoka:Some Indian and S
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legends and stories that were told
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Sanskrit avadānas each have their
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who pointed out the honey store bec
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the Fierce — an appellation that
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the end of Aśoka’s life, it is o
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somewhat regained consciousness, he
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elics of the Buddha for redistribut
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the glory of Sri Lanka and on its p
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Secondly, related to this are the d
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It is clear, then, that this is a t
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how in the Aśokāvadāna these wer
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eborn as a god in one of the heaven
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the night, the guardian gods came t
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monarch bested by a nāga, nor, out
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as Japan were inspired to emulate i
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ConclusionWith this Lokapaññatti
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6. A.L. Basham, “The Rise of Budd
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y dint of his military power. This
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43. Strong, p. 192. Upagupta has al
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62. T.W. Rhys Davids, E. Carpenter,
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sequently carried on in the histori
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Aśoka remained largely a name in t
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of Jalauka’s name in other record
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the Sanskrit original is no longer
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Upagupta commanded immense venerati
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(5) His conversion to Buddhism is a
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whose noble fame travelled far and
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surrounded by a coating of inventio
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missionary role claimed by Aśoka i
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Aśoka and, by implication, these m
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of forbearance and light punishment
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from the pens of many an intellectu
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ascribed to Aśoka ideas and deeds
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the only scholar of the West to dis
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such a way that no heretical monks
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(2) that he used Buddhism — or ra
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in this by the fact that these sect
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of the land’s greatest moments in
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ecame infinitely more spiritual. Bu
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frontier areas as a reaction agains
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Present-day India has been so impre
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3. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Age of th
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y V. Sirinivasa Sarma (Delhi: Banar
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Pali et Traduction, L’Ecole fran
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I have drawn closer to the Sangha a
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The chronological constraints have
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MapsAśoka’s Indian Empire235
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King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

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